Middle Muddle

I spent seven hours at the two-day Middle of the Map festival last weekend.  Much of it wasn’t time well spent.  A cover band's faithful back-to-back interpretations of “Helter Skelter” and “Love Shack" forced me to question the curation of the ninth edition of the event.

The headlining acts at the Uptown Theater on Friday were particularly dissatisfactory.  For an alleged industry plant, Clairo was shockingly lackluster in her Kansas City debut.  She performed prosaic pop with the reticence of an unwilling participant in a high school talent show.  Clairo’s tourmate Beabadoobee was similarly stilted in a set that sounded like Kidz Bop interpreting Pavement.  Lindsey Jordan of Snail Mail is a major talent, but she made it explicitly clear that she wasn’t happy to be there.  A drab collaboration between Clairo and Snail Mail on “Speaking Terms” was the ostensible highlight of the evening.  The giddy teens in the audience of about 600 deserved much better.

I would have stayed home if I had known that the clutch of singer-songwriters featured at Songbird Cafe were going to be my favorite component of Saturday’s day parties.  I defaulted to the folkies when few of the rock bands at the three other venues proved worthwhile.

Una Walkenhorst was a revelation.  I’d written her off after witnessing a dismal set a couple years ago.  Walkenhorst made huge strides while I wasn’t paying attention.  She may be the best folk artist to emerge from Kansas City since Iris Dement played open mic sessions in the 1990s.  Walkenhorst justly heaped praise on the precocious teen Jo MacKenzie: “she’s gonna be selling places out soon, so you’d better get on that train early.”  She may be right.  I detect similarities between MacKenzie and Addie Sartino of the on-the-cusp Kansas City indie-pop band the Greeting Committee.

I expected bracing blues-rock at the debut of Womanish Girl.  The duo of guitarist Katy Guillen and drummer Stephanie Williams didn't disappoint.  I left during the two-hour break between the festival’s day parties and the evening sessions.  A friend’s invitation to join him at the Tyler, the Creator concert in Independence didn’t work out, but the momentary prospect of seeing a musical giant made the idea of returning to the unassuming festival untenable.

(Original image of Jo MacKenzie by There Stands the Glass.)

Concert Review: Boulevardia 2019

I abandoned Boulevardia ninety minutes before rain washed out the headlining acts Dashboard Confessional and Ha Ha Tonka on Saturday.  Abstaining from alcohol allowed me to focus on 13 performances.  Capsule reviews of my five favorite sets follow.

The Black Creatures
I’d been so nonplussed by the Black Creature’s postings at Bandcamp that I’d planned to pass on the duo’s set.  An urgent impulse to take refuge from the sun led to a wonderful discovery at a small indoor stage.  The Black Creatures’ psychedelic neo-soul recordings don’t reflect front person Jade Green’s charming stage presence.

The Greeting Committee
Vindication!  I recently came under fire for claiming that the Greeting Committee is Kansas City’s most popular rock band in an audio feature I created for KCUR.  The thousands of drunk bros and middle-aged admirers who joined the group’s core fan base of young women in singing along to greasy-kid-stuff songs like “Hands Down” proved my point.

Katy Guillen and the Drive
Kansas City loves boogie.  Guillen’s new power trio satisfies Kansas City’s abiding passion for the ‘70s guitar-rock associated with groups like Foghat, Humble Pie and Mountain.  Light rain during the group’s set enhanced my appreciation of its throwback sound.

Kelly Hunt
A publicist recently attempted to pique my interest in the re-release of the debut album by the Kansas City folk artist Kelly Hunt by unknowingly including pull quotes from my rave review of Hunt's 2018 album in her pitch.  Hunt may be my favorite musician in Kansas City.

DJ Jazzy Jeff
Does anyone else remember the 2009 brouhaha that followed DJ Jazzy Jeff’s ostensible ouster from the Power & Light District?  Saturday’s benign set was even less threatening than the Greeting Committee’s frothy rock that preceded it.  The jock jams-themed mix blended Tupac, Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” J Balvin, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Toto’s “Africa” and (tons of) Bruno Mars with the DJ’s own hits including “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”.


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I reviewed the Kansas City debut of Snarky Puppy at Plastic Sax.

(Original image of DJ Jazzy Jeff by There Stands the Glass.)

I Spit My Heart Out, Looking Out For My Best Interests

The king is dead.  Long live the kings.

Following last night’s slightly disappointing concert by Tyler, the Creator, I’m officially switching my primary deviant hip-hop allegiance to Brockhampton.  Tyler behaved like a semi-responsible adult at the Truman.  That’s not what I want from the disruptive artist I fell hard for in 2011. 

Brockhampton is right on time.  ”Junky” is among the thrillingly subversive anthems on the mind-boggling Saturation 2.  (Saturation, the first album the Texas collective issued in 2017, isn’t quite as transcendent.)

The so-called boy band is loaded with transgressive young talent.  I fully expect two or three of its members to become mainstream stars who will inevitably disappoint me a few years from now.  Until then, the thrill isn’t gone.


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I reviewed Tyler, the Creator’s concert at the Truman for The Kansas City Star.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star.

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I named Katy Guillen & the Girls the KCUR Band of the Week.

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Blaque Dynamite’s Killing Bugs is an insanely dense experimental funk album.  RIYL: Flying Lotus, the low end, Thundercat.

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Jerry Granelli’s Dance Hall is like Hudson 2.0.  Veteran jazz cats- in this case a group that includes drummer Granelli, guitarists Robben Ford and Bill Frisell- cover classic rock, blues, jazz and R&B staples by the likes of Bob Dylan, Charles Mingus and Fats Domino.  It’s redundant fun.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

B.B. King, 1925-2015

The first B.B. King concert I attended altered the way I perceive culture and society.

My date and I were among the only white people in the balcony of the Uptown Theater in 1979 (people under the age of 18 weren’t allowed on the floor at the time). 

The demonstrative audience- they preferred co-headliner Bobby Bland to King- showed me how to become completely immersed in the music.  Nothing was the same for me after that night.

I noticed the changing complexion of King’s audience each time I saw him perform.  The transition seemed to have been fully realized at the final King show I attended.  The great man served as an opening act for Peter Frampton at a sad 2013 concert at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre.

The giant of American music died last week.


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I reviewed a concert by Samantha Fish and Katy Guillen and the Girls.

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I contributed a Local Listen segment about Behzod Abduraimov to KCUR.

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The Numero Group has issued a 1969 recording by the Kansas City band White Eyes. RIYL: Crosby Stills & Nash, psychedelics, Richie Furay.  Here’s an 81-second video promoting the find.

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Heidi Lynne Gluck’s The Only Girl in the Room is impressive.  RIYL: Jenny Lewis, winsomeness, M. Ward.

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Teddy Dibble shares a handful of avant-garde jazz albums from his collection.

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Bernard Sollman of ESP-Disk has died.

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I’m not ready to proclaim as Chris Stapleton as the best thing since Dolly Parton’s wig, but Traveller is pretty great.  RIYL: Waylon, the Sturgill Simpson of 2015, Willie.

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I’ve been born again.  The Supreme Jubilees’ recently reissued album “It’ll All Be Over” is that powerful.  Here’s the title track.

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A version of  ”True Trans Soul Rebel” featuring Laura Jane Grace and Miley Cyrus is kind of weak, but it makes me smile anyway.

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John Patitucci’s Brooklyn is surprisingly hip.  RIYL: Lionel Loueke, international cocktail jazz for 2015, Steve Cardenas.

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The world didn’t need Stone Sour’s Meanwhile In Burbank… but I’m glad the covers EP exists.  

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As far as I can tell, I’m the only person on the planet who’s heard Juneteenth, Stanley Cowell’s excellent new solo piano album.

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I listened to media sensation Joey Alexander’s debut album.  It’s fine.  The problem with the cycle of hype associated with jazz prodigies, of course, is that most are discarded when they hit their mid-twenties.  There’s no denying that the visual element is very compelling.

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Portions of Pops Staples’ posthumous Don’t Lose This are magnificent.

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I’d rather think about Zac Brown Band’s dabblings in EDM and heavy metal than listen to  Jeckyll + Hyde a second time.  ”Heavy Is the Head” is my favorite track.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)